RAMALLAH, West Bank — Fatah movement member Azzam al-Ahmad said on Palestine TV on Sept. 10, “The decision to convene the Palestinian National Council [PNC] is final. Contacts are still ongoing with the different Palestinian factions to agree on the details of the meeting.”
Ahmad added that President Mahmoud Abbas had previously requested to speed up the discussions with the factions so as to reach an agreement upon his return from the UN General Assembly meeting in New York. Meetings will be held throughout the month of September with the PLO factions in Ramallah.
Meanwhile, meetings with the other factions such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), whose leadership is based abroad, the PFLP-General Command and the Vanguard for the Popular Liberation War (As-Saiqa) are scheduled for October in Beirut.
Fatah continues to reject the participation of Hamas in the PNC until the administrative committee in the Gaza Strip is dissolved and the national reconciliation government is able to function in Gaza. In March, Hamas formed the administrative committee to run the Gaza Strip’s affairs. The committee was made up of seven subordinate ministries to act on behalf of the national reconciliation government. This prompted Abbas to take a series of punitive measures against Gaza.
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